Outside of an insane win over the Golden State Warriors last Friday, there hasn’t been a ton for the Wolves to smile about lately. Not on the surface, that is. The team has lost eight of ten and has had a hard time stringing together consistent performances. However, lost in a disappointing stretch of games has been the play of Andrew Wiggins, who is finally putting things together in what seems like a meaningful way.
Wiggins has been legitimately impressive since he returned from a quad contusion that sidelined him for three games in early March, but his last six games stand out in particular:
Wiggins’ stats since Mar. 21: 22.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.7 3P, 46.8 FG%, 38.5 3P%
This season has been hard for Wiggins. He struggled to find his shot and his role early on and every time it seemed like he was ready to break out he’d be hit with a game where seemingly nothing would go right.
What seems to have been the driving force in turning things around is Wiggins’ aggressiveness. He’s made the connection that while he can’t always control whether or not his shot is falling, he can control his impact in other areas. He’s rebounding the ball better than he ever has and his distributing has taken a step up. Take his game against Golden State on March 19 for instance—he couldn’t get his three-point shot to fall to save his life, going just one-for-eight, but he had eight rebounds and six assists. That action energized Wiggins and he ended up scoring 20 points on 42-percent shooting from the field.
When Wiggins puts his mind to it like he has over the last few weeks he can be an elite rebounder on the wing. He can out-jump pretty much anyone in the league and he has elite quickness as well. He uses that quickness to get around bigger players and get position for rebounds.
It’s also been great to see Wiggins trusting in his Euro step a little more. It’s always been a good weapon for him, but one he mostly brought out in a pinch. In the last few games he’s been aggressive seeking out opportunities to get bigger defenders on their heels and go right around them. With his length and finishing ability at the rim, Wiggins might have one of the best Euros in the game right now.
A knock on Wiggins has been his tendency to fall back on his midrange game on getting to the rim. It’s important to add a little nuance to that conversation. When Wiggins takes long twos near the three-point line it’s not a good shot, but Wiggins is a good enough shooter to use his dribble moves to get space and pull up from the elbow with good results.
There’s never been any doubt that Wiggins has an elite set of moves in his arsenal, the questions have all been about his strategy in deploying them. He’s taken clear steps in that department and it’s showed over the last few games. Despite what feels like a down year Wiggins is trending up—he’s improved on his averages from last year in almost every statistical category and his early-season shooting woes seem like they’re behind him. Wiggins will go into the 2019 offseason with momentum and return to start next season off on the right foot.